Monday, June 22, 2009

This week Peter King has decided he is not going to really report any NFL news, he is just going to tell us what he thinks. His MMQB columns have slowly gone from an NFL Insider reporting valuable news relating to the NFL, to an NFL Insider using his connections to follow a player or team around all week and then writing a puff piece every Monday on that player/team, to Peter only reporting on the teams and players he wants to report on and he only reports the information he feels the need to report, and finally to just one big column of "Ten Things I Think I Think." This week will pretty much show that.

Hey, at least he did not mention Brett Favre in this column...except four times.

It's happening to Derrick Brooks. After 11 Pro Bowls, six first-team all-pro nods, one Super Bowl victory and one Defensive Player of the Year award, football is saying to him, "We don't need you anymore.''

This is technically not true. The NFL doesn't need him, but I am sure the new football league starting up here in the United States would be glad to have him join their league.

He can't believe he's in his 17th week of unemployment after being cut by the Bucs, and no team in the NFL has offered him a chance to sign, even for relative pennies.

Honestly, I am little surprised as well. Brooks is on the downside of his career but I have found it shocking that no team has even given him a phone call to see if he would be interested in playing for them. I can think of many teams he would fit in pretty well with. I am not sure he would even have to start, though obviously if he wants to start that may be why he is not signed, but I think he could still contribute for more than 20 snaps a game.

I don't care if the guy gets wheeled into a locker room with two broken legs. Derrick Brooks is a football player's football player, one of the best students of the game I've ever seen.

I think it would be better if Peter just said Derrick Brooks can still play, because I would not want him if he had two broken legs and being a student of the game doesn't mean he still can actually play the game. All this leadership stuff is great, but a team should not sign him if he still can't play football.

Yeah Peter, I will just go ahead and fucking call the defensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks about that story. I am sure it is a laugh riot. Why don't I just go dial his number right now and get that story from him. Wait, I can't because I don't have his freaking number because I don't know him at all and he is a defensive coordinator for an NFL team. Why don't you do your damn job and share the story with us?

(We do not get the story in this column)

And to think that 31 teams in the National Football League can't use one of 53 spots on a roster for a leader like Brooks who still has the needle on one-quarter ...I feel like the gas in my car seems to run out faster once it hits one-quarter and I know this tends to happen in a lot of cars. Again, probably not the best analogy to use for Peter to state Brooks' case. A player who only has one-quarter of gas left in his tank seems like he would be pretty much done. I think Peter is actually trying to sabotage his ability to play again in the NFL.

This is the part where I call Peter an elitist who can only relate to people who are wealthy like he is and then I say there are probably thousands of skilled employees in the world who can't find a job to feed their families because no company wants them so I am not going to feel bad for Derrick Brooks...but I won't do that.

So it comes down to this: An NFL coach would have to keep one fewer special-teams demon in exchange for having one of the best leaders in the league.

Might? Maybe? Could be? Why doesn't Peter figure out the reason and write about it? What a novel concept!

"I'll tell you the real reason,'' his friend Warren Sapp said over the weekend. "Because it's not the same for the veterans anymore. The NFL doesn't need us. In this NFL, the old vets don't factor in. The kids don't listen to nobody. Nobody!

Says Warren Sapp as he sips ice tea on his front porch staring at his old red pick-up truck, fingering the trigger on his shotgun, turning around every few minutes to see if The Andy Griffith Show is on. Back in his day, kids listened.

Is Warren Sapp really the guy Peter should go to for insights? He doesn't exactly strike me as the type of player who would give out great advice to younger players nor the type of person who would have accepted advice as a younger player.

"The game's different now. Look at Vince Young. Why wouldn't he listen to Kerry Collins? I'm sure Vince thinks, 'Nobody's been through what I'm going through. Nobody's been through my kind of pressure.' Are you kidding me! Kerry Collins, fifth pick in the draft, has all the ups and downs, gets benched, makes those racist comments, has the alcohol problems, moves from team to team, comes back, has success ...

for one year on a team with a great defense and a great running game.

Let's get this straight once and for all. Kerry Collins came up big when he had to last year. Other than that he was a below average quarterback. His team was in one of the NFL's average divisions (in regard to strength of teams) and his numbers were only good enough to finally beat out Vince Young for the quarterback position after he had a semi-mental breakdown. It's not like he was trying to take the position from Steve Young, but Vince Young, the same guy who can barely throw the football without looking like he is trying to fling crap off his hand. Let's not start a parade until we see Collins do it again this year...which incidentally would also be the first year he had back to back "good" seasons. I am even being generous calling last year "good" for Collins.

The fall. That's when Brooks hopes he's playing. Somewhere.

"The reality in this game is we're all going to walk into work one day and be told, 'You're out of a job.' '' he said. "I don't think it's my time yet.''

How sad. If I ever get fired or laid off, I will tell my boss the same thing and maybe Peter can write a story about me.

Brett Favre is throwing the ball with the old zip, evidently.Bob Papa and I had the coach of the high school where Favre is throwing, Neville Barr, on our Sirius NFL Radio show the other day. Favre's been throwing at Oak Grove (Miss.) High School, and Barr said: "He looks good. He said it was still a little uncomfortable, but I thought he threw the ball well. He had a lot of velocity and zip on it.''

Was he throwing the ball with "zip" to the right team? Throwing the ball well and with "zip" has never been the problem with Brett Favre. It's throwing the ball with "zip" to the right team. Favre is very good at throwing the ball fast to the other team, as well as his own team. That's one Brett Favre update from Peter King and my life is worse off for it.

I have never wished anything bad on anyone other than Kirby Puckett, Adam Vinteriririeia, Jim Leyritz and the entire UNC basketball team, but I am at the point where I am going to be disappointed if Brett Favre doesn't get severly injured this year. I need him to be off the field so he can't ever play again and I never have to hear his name again in relation to football. Stop talking about him...everyone.

(In unrelated news, my sister told me this weekend that she had dated Daniel Bard, formerly a pitcher for UNC and now with the Red Sox, for a brief period of time. Only women could casually mention they used to date a guy who plays professional sports now.)

Remember right after the season, when there was a spate of stories about the Giants and Manning doing a new deal? Well, Manning enters the last year of his original contract this fall -- it'll pay him $8.95 million -- and a contract isn't on the horizon.

I like Eli Manning and have nothing against him. I don't know what his true market value is. Everyone talks about how he has made that leap to being a great quarterback but when I watch him sometimes I am still not sure. Maybe its because he doesn't have a lot of great receivers, I don't know, but I can't decide if he is a good QB or not, so maybe the Giants are having the same problem.

But it's surprising that Manning delivered what he was brought to New Jersey to deliver, a world title, and a deal hasn't gotten done.

I think saying he delivered the Super Bowl is a bit much. He played well enough and did not make any mistakes. The Giants defense won that Super Bowl.Quote of the Week II

"[Brian] Cushing has been a starter since the day he got off the bus.''--Houston coach Gary Kubiak, on his first-round draft pick from USC

Cushing will open at strongside linebacker, next to tackling machine DeMeco Ryans, playing in the middle.

There you go Texans fans. That's your second straight weekly update from Peter King...don't expect anymore. Last week he gave you his thoughts on Dan Orlvoksy and this week you found out this gem. Where else can you get information like who the backup quarterback and starting strongside linebacker will be this year? Certainly not in the local papers. You had better thank Peter for this insight, because only he, and he alone, can get you this information.

(Do we have any Texas readers?)

"When he's been out here in shorts without a live rush he's made very good decisions, thrown an accurate ball and hasn't turned the ball over. But his foot speed is not very good. He's slow getting to the launch point and he's got a very slow and long delivery. So you have to weigh that. Sure he's been completing a lot of passes, but will he be able to get the ball out?"--Tampa Bay quarterback coach Greg Olson, on Byron Leftwich, thought to be the favorite for the starting job heading into camp, but now appears to be lagging behind.

Other than the Tampa Bay Bucs and Peter King, who did not expect this from Leftwich? This has been the scouting report on him since college. Who in their right mind thought that getting older would have helped him move faster and release the ball quicker?

This week's sign the Green Bay Packers miss Brett Favre: The Packer Pro Shop and Atrium stores at Lambeau Field saw revenue decrease by $6.5 million, from $50.2 million to $43.7 million, from Favre's last season, 2007, to the first post-Favre season, 2008.

Not having a marquee name on the roster will do that. This is less an example of how they miss Brett Favre and more of an example of how they miss having a marquee name on their roster.

This week's sign that the Green Bay Packers don't miss Brett Favre: Only 192 season tickets in the entire building were not renewed after a 6-10 season, the first one with Favre not under center in 17 years.

How can Peter King deny he is obsessed with Brett Favre? He mentions him constantly and his impact on the NFL and how he is doing...blah, blah, blah. It's bizarre and pathetic.

1. I think the most amazing thing I've heard in the past month, and I've confirmed it with someone close to Roy Williams, is that the Dallas receiver was never on a consistent weightlifting program in his life before this off-season, when he got after it at Valley Ranch. "I'm serious,'' this acquaintance of Williams told me. "Roy never lifted before. Now that he has, and now that he's serious about making himself a great football player, especially with T.O. gone, I think he's really going to have a good year.''

That is kind of amazing. That also either reflects fairly poorly on Roy Williams work ethic to become a better football player or on the Detroit Lions weightlifting programs.

I don't know if being on a consistent weightlifting program is necessarily going to mean that Williams will have a better year this year. Sure the extra muscle is going to help out on blocking, but it won't help him incredibly much if he can't get open.

Joe Buck just got the interview that everyone in the media has wanted for the last three months, and all people are going to be talking about is how Artie Lange hijacked the show. Sad. The Favre interview should have been headline news all over America. Instead it was page two.Here is the disconnect between Peter King's Brett Favre fantasy land and the rest of the world. Peter King thinks the Favre interview where he said NOTHING of real importance should be headline news, while everyone else in the world thinks the story is beaten into the ground and should be on the back pages no matter what Favre says.

I don't know how Peter doesn't understand that the well spun story of a 40 year old average quarterback should not be of great importance to the world. Many people have disdain for him and the way he has done his retirement business over the last couple of years, it is pretty clear he just wants to be in the spotlight, and like other selfish NFL stars (Chad Johnson, Terrell Owens) many people want him to go away. So no, it should not be headline news, especially since the interview told us nothing of value, but allowed Brett Favre to try and get his story across, which no one should care about at this point.

4. I think whether Favre has agreed to a contract or not -- and profootballtalk.com reported Sunday night he may well have done so -- there is universal agreement among those close to Favre that the money is either done or absolutely not going to be a problem. Favre's playing for Minnesota if his right arm feels OK by month's end.Don't...freaking...care. He's playing. We get it. The details are ever so boring.

7. I think I owe a bit of clarification to the contract I quasi-ripped in this space last week, the five-year, $47.5-million deal signed by quarterback Mark Sanchez of the Jets. First: You always get in trouble when you try to analyze these contracts, because they are never, ever what they seem. In this case, I thought $9.5-million a year, on average, was light given comparable deals in this draft and last year's draft. In other words, he was wrong. Here is the "thing." YOU should not get in trouble when you try to analyze a contract because you get paid for that sort of thing. Call one of your many contacts in the league or the Jets General Manager for God's sake and get the facts right before you type them. WE should get in trouble because it is not our job. To just rip a contract and not understand the actual details is very Kingsian.

Then I realized this: In the first four years of the contract, Sanchez will earn $42 million, assuming he plays a minimal percentage of the snaps. That's $10.5 million a year, with minimum playtime. The contract was done with the idea that Sanchez, if he's at least average, will have his deal re-done after four years,"Realized" meaning "someone emailed me and corrected me." Also, the Jets can cut ties with Sanchez after four years if he is not as good as everyone seems to think he will be. We all know where I fall on this issue. He has a lot to prove to me, especially since he only started in college for one year and never really impressed me that much with what I saw.

I just think if he had played for Stanford Sanchez would have been a 4th round draft pick.

Max out on the sunscreen this summer. Make this a sunscreen summer. Too many young people are letting the sun beat down on them too much -- or laying in tanning beds too long. Respect the sun. It'll kill you.Where else can you get "Respect the sun. It'll kill you" as advice? Only in MMQB with Peter King the master of the obvious. I was actually going to title this column the Respect the Sun Because It Will Kill You Edition but I knew KSK would go ahead and do that as well. I am already self conscious enough when I found out they do a MMQB thing on Mondays (though I do use far less capital letters) so I went ahead and gave that title to them.

d. Four-game lead, Boston. Do not get cocky. The Rays are coming. The Yanks are the Yanks.Being that this is not even close to being the final weekend in baseball for the year, I don't think the Red Sox have to worry this early about being cocky. I don't know if barely taking two out of three games from the Braves could make any team cocky.

(I am at the point I actually am feeling very bad for the Braves pitching. Someone get a freaking base hit at some point, that's all I ask. Also, when Failcoeur gets replaced by a guy hitting .000 and I actually feel more confident, that can't be a good sign for my confidence in Failcoeur.)

e. Uncle. Uncle! The first day of summer brought weather more like the first day of spring in the northeast -- heavy mist, fog, 58ish degrees, strong winds. I thought I moved to Boston, but apparently the truck brought our stuff to some combo platter of Seattle and Juneau.Quit whining...It was 99 and 95 degrees with no wind where I live this weekend. I would trade you in a heartbeat.

g. I don't know who Jon and Kate are, and I pray to God I never learn.What if they were Brett Favre's cousins? Would Peter care then? I say "yes, he would."

i. The column will be off for the next four Mondays, but I want you to look for some surprise MMQB authors over the next four weeks. Who? That's a surprise. You'll have to log on each Monday to learn. I'll be back Monday, July 27, the day before I leave for my training-camp jaunt.I am a little confused. The column is off, but other people are writing it? So the column is not off, just Peter is off...

I am so excited we still get a MMQB while Peter is on vacation AND we get fresh meat in the form of different authors every week. I am saying two of the authors will be Donnie Banks and Ross Tucker. If my prayers were answered then Bill Simmons will be going across enemy lines and doing the MMQB one week. That will never happen though. What will happen is one of the guest authors will do a better job than Peter. We'll see for next week I guess. I have to go meditate on my question for Peter's mail bag for this week.

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comments:

I would feel sorry for the Braves pitchers because of the shitty defense playing behind them. Such as, the varitek fly ball to the wall that bounced off of Mclouths glove, or my favorite, where Chipper and Escobar just kind of looked at each other as Ortiz popup landed between them.

"Quit whining...It was 99 and 95 degrees with no wind where I live this weekend. I would trade you in a heartbeat."

Oh no, I will trade places with you, my friend. For the rest of the week it is raining, and not only that, there are expected gale force winds. It been raining nonstop for the past two weeks and I would gladly take a heatwave, rather than a shit ton of rain.

Let's trade! I hate the heat and I will be perfectly fine with gale force winds at this stage in the summer. Actually, I would get tired of it after a while.

I have also never seen Chipper Jones that angry before. When he was speaking to the bizarre looking umpire with the pornstache he looked borderline crazed. Bobby Cox was trying so hard to keep him in the game but there was nothing he could do. In perfect Braves fashion, it potentially could have lost the game for them. I would much rather he have faced Papelbon than Kelly Johnson, who from day to day I can't determine if he should be in the major leagues or not. The strike zone was all over the place both ways, but in retrospect I wish some of the cool air had cooled Chipper off.

The defense was pretty bad, usually I feel like Escobar is a good defensive SS.

I would think that the revenue decline in Packers memorabilia would also be affected by the team nearly making the Super Bowl one year, then going 6-10 the next year. I would imagine that is true throughout sports, especially in cities with a lot of bandwagon fans {cough Boston cough}.

SPORTSFLUFF with JOE BUCK would have gotten more coverage if he had acted like a real journalist and asked Favre the tough questions, instead of stroking his ego.

I agree with Kent completly. If your team didn't make the playoffs a year after making them, you are going to lose a ton of money. I am willing to bet any amount of money that the others teams that didn't make the playoffs this past year that made it the year before also lost money...but why would King mention that?

I didn't even know Joe Buck had a show till i read about that one guy ripping him apart. I didn't hear much on Brett, but I also change the channel whenever his name is mentioned on TV.

And yes, Boston shouldn't get cocky, because it's not like its only June or something. Does anyone else get the impression that King doesn't know how long the baseball season is? Most people don't start talking about divion races till about September...thats 3 months from now.

no need to cough all sneakily, kent. I am fully aware of the bandwagonism that follows all boston sports teams. But I think the same could be said of a lot of franchises cough florida marlins cough. cough orlando magic cough. The big one, though, is the yankees. Remember Billy Crystal wearing a mets cap in City Slickers? Then from 96 on hes a diehard yankees fan, and remembers his dad taking him to a game that mantle homered in. Give me a break.

Kent, you are right that the memorabilia sales probably were affected by the team's record. For example, fans are not going to purchase a player's jersey if the team is struggling and there is no guarantee he will be with the Packers in one or two years. I missed this point in my post.

I can't even fathom why Peter King can't understand that Joe Buck's show did not get headline news because he asked no tough questions. I barely knew he had a show and the only reason I knew was because Peter King mentioned it. Anyone can hear Brett Favre talk all the time about his retirement and love of the game, blah, blah, blah...but until he is asked real questions I am not shocked that few people give a crap and the focus is on Artie Lange.

AJ, I am with you on that. It is so funny to hear Peter talk about baseball as his first love, because it is as if he knows very little about it. The season is very, very long and I really, really doubt that Boston is getting cocky at this point. There is still over half the season to play. I don't think he knows how long the year is. If the season was one month from ending his comment could possibly make sense, otherwise it is nonsensical.

Agreed on the bandwagonism stuff Fred. Just think about Snoop Dogg and any Super Bowl of the last 10 years. There are many other examples.

I bet in the movie Bill Crystal was playing a "character" who liked the Mets, but you would never find me wearing anything but my favorite team's hat in a starring roll of a movie, much less the team that plays in the same city.

really? You never had a problem with bruins fans, even thought you have a habs affilation? There arent very many hardcore bruins fans (myself included, but I dont pretend to be), but the ones that are, are just that.....really hardcore for their team, who hate everything that has to do with the canadiens. Unless you are a very big dude, and they thought better of heckling you.

I think Bill Simmons caused a lot of hatred and self hatred regarding Boston area fans.

Look, high school coaches now "zip," so if one says that Brett Favre is throwing fast we can take that to the bank. Especially a high school coach in Mississippi who has maybe 2-3 players playing D-I college football right now.

I would hate Charlie Liebrandt but that was purely the fault of Bobby Cox, so yes, I hate Kirby Puckett for all he was and all he stood for. Kent Hrbek is just a bag of douche, while Puckett was easily to hate for me.

I hate it when Fox's A Team called Panthers games three seasons ago. It was so annoying. I used to like Joe Buck but I have grown out of that. I don't feel like I enjoy his broadcasts that much...he is not bad, but he is certainly not good either.

I would actually pay $100 to watch Failcoeur hit 100 knuckleballs. I would laugh harder than I did while I watched "The Hangover." In related news, I was doing some work around the house when I predicted that Matt Diaz would strike out in the 9th inning on a high fastball. Then it happened and it was worse than I thought. It is getting to the point I am actually starting to believe any pitch close to the plate is a strike because I am so used to the team with the worst plate discipline swinging at everything. They should just start Diaz and Failcoeur at an 0-2 count.

Kent, I have never really gotten to speak one on one with many Boston fans but I imagine I am going to have a good time this weekend at Red Sox-Braves game when Turner Field is over run with Red Sox fans. I have met a few and they don't seem like Bill Simmons is at all.

Boston fans were truly great. And despite being a very, very manly man, no, I'm not large at all. My theory is if you don't act like an asshole, most others won't be an asshole to you. Unless you're in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

It probably helped I was there during a down time for the Bruins, so the fires of hate may have been slightly cooled.

"'[Brian] Cushing has been a starter since the day he got off the bus.'--Houston coach Gary Kubiak, on his first-round draft pick from USC

Cushing will open at strongside linebacker, next to tackling machine DeMeco Ryans, playing in the middle."

really? Houston's first-round draft pick linebacker will be a starter on what was a shaky defense last year? you don't fucking say!

why is it that Peter King, the NFL insider who ostensibly has good connections in the league, is wholly afraid of pressing any further than this? Bill Simmons does nothing but watch games on TV and write about them and he'd STILL provide more bullshit analysis. his version of that paragraph: "Just from the way he walked off the bus I could tell he'd be a starter, hell, a Pro Bowler even. I think it's high time we added the Brian Cushing 'I'm ready to fuck shit up' Face to the Pantheon of Faces."

I'd guess Peter is just envious that Joe Buck got to sit so close to Brett Favre on TV while Peter can only send text messages and listen to six-month-old voicemails. in fact, if PK had been doing the interview it would have upstaged Artie Lange. I'm sure PK would have conducted the entire interview on Brett's lap, or while lecherously rubbing his thigh. sorry for the image, folks.

BGF: is everything OK for Jair Jurrjens? he gave up a homer to Ortiz yesterday, is he hurt or something? I need to know because he's on my fantasy baseball team, and is the only pitcher on my team besides Lincecum who isn't shitty or injured.

Forgive me because this was so long ago but, my uncle was at one of the playoff games between the yankees and indians, and this guy was wearing an indians hat, and the yankees fans kept taking it from him.

So finally, the guy yelled out "fuck all you motherfuckers, I'll kick the shit out of each and every one of you!!!!"

Yeah, guess what happened next?

dude got his ass kicked. Unfortunately this was before youtube, so I'm sure there would've been some pretty kickass video with it.

of course, the yankees fans started it, but they sure as hell finished it, too.

I have another one (involving a friend, a yankee fan, and a trashcan) that I will share at a later date. Perhaps I will make it into a post, its that good of a story.

Well first off, this is the admittedly horrible question I asked Peter. "How are we supposed to ask Gus Bradley when we don't know him or his phone number? It's not fair to tell your audience to ask a person they will never meet to relate a story. Why won't you tell us the story?"

I would actually really hope the 1st round pick of a team picking before 20th in the draft would have the player they drafted start for them? Especially when that player is not a quarterback. That's all we get from Peter on that situation because he doesn't care to provide any more. If it were the Jets or a similar we would have gotten a breakdown of how many tackles each player had last year and how Cushing fits in to the system...but it is Houston and Peter doesn't care about them, so that's all we get.

When you compare any analysis to Bill Simmons' analysis and say he would do a better job...that's saying something.

Peter King would have murdered someone to get a sit down interview with Brett Favre. He may really be jealous that Buck landed the all coveted post-second retirement softball question interview. Peter claims he can't get anything out of Favre but it would not shock me if he knew more than he was saying but didn't want to actually doing any reporting for fear of hurting Brett's feelings.

The only problem with Jurrjens right now is that he plays for the Braves. The lineup includes three guys that can hit the ball well. If they aren't hitting, the Braves aren't either. He's pitching well, like many of the other pitchers are. He has good peripheral numbers except he can't get wins. If he has an injury I haven't heard about it.

my question to Pete this week:"You noted that Brian Cushing will start at one of the outside linebacker spots in Houston, but I'd like to know your opinion on the matter. Do you think it's wise for the Texans to hand a starting OLB job to a guy who wasn't much of a pass rusher in college?"

I really think (and really, really, REALLY hope) it has a good chance of being printed/answered. since it's about the Texans he may not even notice it though.

re: Jurrjens, I mostly just making a joke at the Braves' expense for giving up a HR to Ortiz. although in Atlanta's defense, OW-AH STRUGGLIN POWAH HITTAHS HAVE WAY MOO-AH HAHHT THAN YAW'S! NO ONE DENIES THIS!!!!

it really does annoy me that someone with as many sawces as Peter King is so tame and banal in his analysis, while Gregggg Easterbrook and Billy Simmons--two guys who watch sports on TV and write novellas about it once a week--feel free to make outlandish and wholly unverifiable statements in pretty much every paragraph that contains sports.

Here is my pseudo-defense of Simmons in relation to the guys like Peter. Simmons does their job at least as well, though on a smaller scale, with pretty much zero contacts. Think about it, Simmons is pretty much a blogger who through extensive tv watching, is able to reach the same conclusions that most of the "experts" do. So many of the analysts have reached the point where they are just spouting opinion, instead of...researched and thoughtful opinion..which sounds sort of lame, that they aren't any better then Simmons.

Is Bill's idea that the Boston sports fan can simply will their team to winning games, and that hugs are all a team needs for championships, any dumber then the Packers selling 6 million fewer dollars of merchandise in a non-playoff year, during a financial meltdown in the economy, being due to The Favre leaving? Bill at least sometimes attempts to analyze things, he might get it wrong, but he seems a fan of stats sometimes. Peter King is all about gritty, and the unprovable, and the Favre.

I like that question Ivn. Pretty good stuff, I hope he answers it. If he does, I don't even know what to say.

I don't think Peter King uses his sources correctly or he is just very, very afraid of burning them. It's like he is not willing to print any negative information or any information that would reflect poorly on any player or team. If anyone could print outlandish things that have some backing it would be Peter, but he leaves that to others. I think he is too buddy-buddy with everyone. That's my opinion.

It is embarrassing to give up a homerun to Ortiz but I am just surprised he did not hit 5 home runs off the Braves pitching. I full expect that to happen in Atlanta this week. I will be the person vomiting down the right field line if that happens.

Martin, that was a spirited defense of Bill Simmons. I have to say you are exactly right about that. He reaches all his conclusions (dumb or not dumb) with zero contacts in many leagues (that we know of), but people like Peter King just start doing that as well with almost no thought put into it. Except for the fact, Peter could actually find things out, like how Sanchez's contract is broken down, but sometimes he chooses not to.

Peter drives me crazy with his lack of information sometimes. He doesn't even try to find some things out. No, Bill's ideas are not necessarily any dumber than some of Peter's ideas.

Anon, I completely agree. Especially a 1st round pick between picks 1-19. These are the types of things Peter doesn't think about before he types though. He just starts typing and doesn't think whether what he is saying is obvious or not.

An example is the "respect the sun" sentence. That was dumb to type and also pretty obvious.

I agree with Chris on this, though I think Rodgers at least has potential/time to make that move to the next teir. I think Eli is pretty much stuck where he's at. The astounding part is, and hey it was sports radio, but they were saying that the Giants were looking to give him a 15 million a year extension/new contract. That's freaking insane. He's not worth that money unless he developes a cure for cancer.

Eli Manning doesn't strike me as an elite QB either. I didn't even realize his contract was running out. I think Peter's thoughts about how he delivered a Super Bowl to New York are a little bit off. I think that was all the defense and Manning took care of the ball well enough to win games.

I would put him in that lower third tier of QB's but since I am apparently a big Aaron Rodgers fan I think he may jump out of that tier this year. I don't know either how much more Manning can improve, you sort of already know what you are going to get from him at this point. He does provide stability at the position but you also need to make sure he has a good running game.

$15 million per year is a bit high.

AJ, I have to say I don't know if your question will get in the mail bag but I can't wait to see. You did give him a chance to talk about Favre and that's always a positive.

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